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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

U.S. meat supplies to Russia have been
banned. The Russian Federation and the United States differ in the
assessment of the causes of the situation. Russia claims that the reason
for the ban was the presence of ractopamine drug in US meat. America
insists that Russia's actions were a response to the adoption of the
Magnitsky Act by the Senate and accuses Russia of violating WTO rules.

On December 7, 2012 Russia's Federal
Agency for Agricultural Control, Rosselhohznadzor, banned the imports of
meat containing ractopamine. This is a food additive that allows to
reduce the content of fat in beef and pork. The drug is added to food so
that animals grow the muscle mass instead of fat. According to
researchers, ractopamine affects the human cardiovascular system, and in
some cases can cause food poisoning. This drug is banned for use in 160
countries, including China and Russia. It is allowed in 24 countries,
including Canada and the United States. Codex Alimentarius of the World
Health Organization, adopted in July 2012 in Rome by representatives of
186 countries, allows the contents of ractopamine in meat.

Formally, Russia does not prohibit the
delivery of pork and beef from the United States. It only notified a
number of countries, including the US of A, of the need to provide
documents saying that animals had not been fed ractopamine - the drug
that is banned in Russia. However, the warned countries (in addition to
the U.S. the list includes Canada, Brazil and Mexico and excludes 20
countries where the drug is used) do not have the appropriate expertise,
because there was no need to have it before. Rosselkhoznadzor promised
to introduce a transitional period for those countries, until about the
end of January 2013. However, specific implementation mechanisms remain
unclear.

As for foreign countries, the move of
the Russian Agency for Agricultural Control will hit the United States
most. Russia is the fourth largest importer of U.S. meat and spends
about $500 million a year on it. The Russian market consumes 0.6 percent
of all beef and 1.4 percent of pork produced in the United States. More
than 200 containers of meat products worth about $20 million are
currently on their way to Russia from the United States.

However, the lack of U.S. meat on the
Russian market will affect the Russian economy. The pork from the United
States comes fourth on the volume of shipments to Russia. In total, the
share of imported meat in the Russian market makes up not less than a
third.

The United States regards the ban of
meat imports as a political move. According to American analysts, Russia
has reacted so to the recent adoption of the Magnitsky Act by the U.S.
Congress. On December 6, the U.S. Senate almost unanimously (92 votes
"for" and 4 - "against") approved the bill that imposed visa and
financial sanctions against Russian officials involved, according to
Washington, in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer of Hermitage
investment fund. The first three parts of this document are devoted to
the interaction of Russia and the U.S. in the WTO. In particular, the
bill abolishes the Jackson-Vanik amendment for Russia and Moldova, which
was adopted in 1974. It is expected that U.S. President Barack Obama
will sign the bill in the near future.

"This seems to be in retaliation to the
Senate's passage of the trade bill with Russia ... there is certainly no
doubt about it," Rich Nelson, chief strategist at research and
brokerage company Allendale Inc, said.

Russian officials were surprised to know that US analysts associated the ban on meat imports with the Magnitsky Act.

"One can speculate about whether it was
done in retaliation or not, but the measure was based on the content of
some additives in meat that are contrary to Russian sanitary standards,"
deputy director of the Institute of the USA and Canada, Victor Supyan
told Pravda.Ru.

Previously, the Russian side promised to
take comprehensive, multidimensional and extremely strong measures
should the Magnitsky Act be adopted in the USA. Presently, the United
States accuses Russia of violating WTO rules. "All WTO members break
these rules. This is normal," Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich
said in response to similar accusations in November of this year in an
interview with the Kommersant newspaper. However, on Saturday,
U.S. officials said they were expecting actions from Russia to change
the situation. The U.S. side expressed a hope that in the near future
Russia would remove the ban on the imports of meat, thus fulfilling its
obligations as a WTO member. Russia, in turn, does not see any
violations in its actions.

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Why can't we have in America, a government that puts the safety of its citizens first?

Unfortunately, the American corporate government will try use the WTO to vilify and bully Russia into submission.

Maybe, with all the attention this dispute will no doubt produce, popular outrage about poison food will force the 24 countries that permit the drug usage to change their laws and ban it, too. If government controlled, corporate media in America allows people to hear about it, that is.

It really says a lot that, although 160 countries (87%) have banned this drug, Codex Alimentarius is set up to FORCE all countries to use it against their will. Does anyone actually believe that this is the only change that will be FORCED on an unwilling world if Codex is made universal?

Thats like saying we are our american government and we agree with all they say and do to us and our country and others (I dont think so!!!!!)...saying it is the jews is sooooooo yucky it makes my skin crawl!!!!!!

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